This is a blog about living on Cape Cod and running a Wellfleet bed & breakfast, open year long. I'm a Russian-American who spent 25 years in France. My husband Sven is from Sweden. Sweden’s colors are blue & yellow. Mix them, and you get green, a concept we embrace. No toxic chemicals, please, and organic food whenever possible . . .

Monday, November 16, 2009

In France, there’s a popular saying that resulted from a commercial for a Right Bank department store. “On trouve tout à la Samaritaine!” One finds everything at the Samaritaine. That’s the way I feel about the Wellfleet Public Library where something interesting always seems to be going on. Sven recently started a seminar on Celtic history. Besides seminars, there are art exhibits, weekly poetry and writing groups, activities for toddlers, and much, much more. Three recent events worth mention:

Oct. 18: Two founders of the Georgian Textile Group demonstrated how to make a felt rug, above. They used sheep’s wool, which is rough but very soft. Two dozen excited Wellfleetians participated in this exclusive crafts workshop. Everyone made designs with wool of varying colors and placed their creations on the rug. The leaders sprayed hot soapy water, then rolled it up. Barbara Prazak and Betsy Williams helped with this strenuous physical activity, quite an experience, apparently, that I’m sorry I missed. “People were high on it the next day,” Elaine McIlroy, our award-winning librarian, reported. The ladies intend to bring back traditional textile arts to the Republic of Georgia and were in the USA thanks to an American Friends of Georgia donor from Orleans. This was the second of two workshops. (On Saturday, Wellfleetians learned to knit slippers with five needles. “The slippers are very popular in Wellfleet now!” Marusya Chavchavadze told me with a laugh.) Library-goers can bid on the rug starting Wednesday. Bids start at $100. Proceeds will benefit the Georgia Textile Group.

November 7: Don Cameron spoke to a full house about shamanic healing. Calling himself a “feet-on-the-ground” type of guy, Cameron said he had left high tech engineering to follow an ancient path, after receiving a nudge from a snowy owl. The reluctant shaman from Scotland shared stories of his training with the Incas and his practice, then fielded questions from a fascinated group of listeners, representing many Cape towns. If you’ve got “a few dings in your energy field,” go see Cameron in Hyannis to get them fixed. “Clients do not have to believe; they only need to have the intention to be healed.” Here Sven chats with Cameron after the event.

November 14: Two dozen women and two men gathered to watch Toxic Bust, a powerful film about breast cancer, its probable causes and its prevention, produced and directed by Megan Siler in 2006. The forty-three minute film contains some frightening statistics, including the fact that every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, 200 synthetic chemicals have been found in breast milk, and less than 10% of all breast cancer cases are hereditary. Just one important statement to retain: “We know there are toxic chemicals that can initiate a cancer.” Cape Cod has a 20% higher rate of breast cancer than the rest of Massachusetts. Silent Spring Institute, founded by the MA Breast Cancer Coalition, is trying to figure out why. After the film, event coordinator Cheryl Osimo and board member Dr. Pat Rainy fielded questions related to drinking water, how to avoid toxins that can disrupt DNA, and the risks of radiation involved in mammograms. The two women laughed off the fact that they are referred to as “hippy activists.” One last chilling revelation: the genes that determine predisposition for breast cancer are now owned by Myriad, and patented so that Myriad is sure to do all further testing. Incredible!!